


Mokuba Is Sent to the Hospital

by WinchesterWarrenSon



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Autistic Kaiba Seto, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 22:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3827833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinchesterWarrenSon/pseuds/WinchesterWarrenSon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Kaiba Has a Press Conference." Mokuba is injured and is sent to the hospital. The stress and worry over whether or not Mokuba is going to make it makes Seto have a meltdown. Joey ends up being the only one available to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mokuba Is Sent to the Hospital

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PickleandtheQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PickleandtheQueen/gifts).



> Kaiba's nonverbalness in this fic is based off of my own personal experiences with it. Nonverbalness is different for each person. Some autistics never talk out loud period and use machines to talk for them. Since Kaiba is not openly autistic and does not ordinarily need the technology that allows a machine to talk for you, he does not have that available to him, despite being rich enough to afford it. His nonverbalness is entirely due to stress that he is not capable of keeping up with, unlike the levels of stress he has gotten used to functioning with over the years. 
> 
> I figured I'd put this out before April ended; thank God, hopefully the Autism Speaks puzzle piece will go away until next year.

The series of events happened far too quickly for Seto Kaiba. He had been in the midst of working on another project for KaibaCorp - related to perfecting the duel disc and making it more accessible to those with difficulty with motor functions - when he got the phone call. 

It had taken too long for him to realize that while his brain was working wildly fast, his body had yet to catch up with it and that he hadn't left the chair after the news was delivered. 

Mokuba had gotten hit by a car while crossing the street. He was already at the hospital, and they were unclear on how severe his condition was. 

Kaiba forced himself to get out of the chair, despite his limbs feeling like they were full of lead, and rushed as fast as he could to the car garage. 

"Mokuba! Hospital! Now!" he barked at the car driver. 

Those were the last words he was able to force up his throat and out of his mouth. Up to a point, this wasn't at all detected because he was very famous and famous for not having any patience with bullshit. So the doctors knew who he was, didn't beat around the bush with the information about his brother, and assured him that they were doing everything that they could. 

They attributed Kaiba's lack of response to shock. 

Soon Kaiba was left to wait, alone, waiting for news about Mokuba's condition past what the doctors already told him. On the outside, he just looked like he was in shock and worried. On the inside, he was absolutely panicking - and struggling to not do the behaviors that had in the past calmed him down or helped him distract himself from the distressing situation. 

He was terrified of losing Mokuba, always had been. 

And he was no good to Mokuba if he couldn't think straight or talk. What if they needed Kaiba's permission to give Mokuba a particular kind of drug or to perform needed surgery? What if it couldn't be told in a yes or no? He knew he couldn't write in this state. Not with his brain all over the brain yet frozen at the same time. His frontal cortex was starting to hurt really badly, but he didn't reach for his Advil for fear that he wouldn't be able to stop his hands from moving if he did. 

He wasn't alone in the waiting room, and he thought he was succeeding at staying still until he overheard a child asking their mother a question. 

"Mommy? That's Seto Kaiba, right?" 

"I think so, sweetie." 

"Why's he rocking back and forth in the chair?" 

Kaiba immediately stood up after hearing that, realizing he couldn't stay in this room. He went in one direction, but had to turn around and go the other way to find the men's room. Thankfully there were signs and that his ability to read wasn't impeded by the headache. 

He found the bathroom easily enough, and it thankfully was empty. He let his hands go from the fists they had formed and flapped them agitatedly as opposed to when he used to flap them in a happy way. It was a bit faster, less controlled than back then. He tried to keep himself on his feet as he tried to calm down enough to at least think straight, but the moment he allowed himself to stim, his body seemed to want to let loose the flood gates. 

The rational part of his brain told him that he had kept it hidden for so long that suddenly losing control when too much stress was heaped onto him was all he should have expected from this. 

His hands went from harmlessly flapping to hitting himself on either side of his head, then to holding his head as he rocked back and forth, the movement mostly localized in his head, where all the pain was as well. 

This wasn't like when Mokuba was kidnapped, he had a way of going at the situation. This was just sitting and waiting and seeing how things would play out, and he couldn't take it, not when Mokuba's life was at stake, not when - not when - ! 

He didn't make a conscious decision to do it, but he didn't regret it. One hand moved to the back of his head and gripped onto his hair, and the other let go, and combined with the hand pulling and the neck muscles propelling his head forward, his forehead hit the bathroom mirror with quite a bit of force. 

The mirror cracked, though the actual mirror fragments stayed in the mirror frame. After the first contact, at least. After the third hit, blood was trickling down Kaiba's face, and bits of mirror fell into the sink. 

He took deep breaths and stared at his fractured reflection, then let go of his hair and moved his hand to touch his forehead. It stung, but it didn't seem to have any glass stuck in the skin. Just cut. 

The bathroom door opened at that moment, and Kaiba tensed, thinking it'd be hospital staff or a stranger who would then get hospital staff. 

But instead, he heard a familiar voice and wished his expectation had been correct. 

"Kaiba! What're you doin' - your forehead! Are you okay?" 

Kaiba looked over at Joey Wheeler, and he moved his lips to speak, but no words came out. He could focus better now, but he still couldn't talk. 

He looked away from Joey and caught a look at his expression in the broken mirror. He felt disgusted at just how distraught and weak he looked. He hated this. He hated falling to pieces like this. He tried so hard to keep it from happening and now it was happening in front of _Wheeler_ of all people. 

Joey came closer to him, and Kaiba used body language to try to keep him from coming any closer, blocking his body off, trying to signal that he wanted to be left alone. 

Joey stopped and stared, trying to figure out what was going on. 

"Are you able to talk?" Joey asked. 

Kaiba took a deep breath and shook his head. 

"Okay. I'll ask yes or no questions, okay?" 

Kaiba looked over at him, but didn't respond. 

"Are you here for you?" 

He shook his head no. 

"For Mokuba?" 

A nod. 

"Is he sick?" 

Shake of the head. 

"Hurt real bad?" 

Nod. 

"Damn. I'm really sorry about that, Kaiba. Is he gonna be okay?" 

Kaiba could only shrug. He really didn't know. 

Joey seemed to understand.... Though how Wheeler understood when the last time he saw the other teenager he had been flinging around the R-word like no body's business.... And he hadn't . . . but he supposed that his slip-up at his press conference was enough. With Yugi being as smart as he was and Wheeler being Yugi's friend . . . though he had had hope against hope that no one noticed and that those who did chose not to say anything, and he thought he had Yugi pegged as someone who wouldn't have said anything.... But he supposed he was wrong. 

"I'm here 'cause my sister has a follow-up on her eye surgery. To make sure everything's still going okay or if she needs another, less urgent surgery. She's gonna meet me in the waiting room, and I was gonna get a soda or somethin' from the vending machine after usin' the toilet.... Do you wanna go to the vending machine with me?" 

Kaiba's initial answer would have been no. But . . . he realized he had no idea when his voice was going to come back. 

As much as he didn't like it, he needed Wheeler until his voice came back. 

Kaiba nodded. 

"All right, cool. Do you want a doctor to look at your forehead?" 

Kaiba shook his head. 

"Then you should get it cleaned up before we get outta here. Do you want help with that?" 

Kaiba shook his head no. 

"'Kay. I'm gonna pee while you do that, and then we'll get sodas and go to the waiting room." 

Kaiba pulled off some paper towels and wetted them, then dabbed his forehead and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. After the bleeding stopped, he cleaned up his forehead. It did look a bit red, but he doubted anyone would notice that he had cut it. He then threw the paper towels out and waited for Joey. Joey washed his hands, and then the two teenagers went in search of the vending machine. 

Kaiba went ahead and paid for both of their drinks, surprising Joey. 

He didn't do it because they were suddenly friends or something. It just didn't feel right to make Wheeler do favors for him (i.e.: talking to doctors for him) without giving him _something_ in return. But he had a feeling he would still owe him. 

He hated being in debt to people. 

They went to the waiting room with their sodas, then waited. And waited. And waited. Serenity came back before Mokuba's doctor did. 

"How'd it go, Serenity?" 

"It went well. They said my eyes are doing as expected and I won't need any more additional surgery." 

"That's great!" 

"Hi, Kaiba, what're you doing here?" 

Kaiba glanced over at her, arms crossed. 

"He's here 'cause Mokuba got injured real bad." 

"Oh no!" 

"Yeah. D'you mind if we stick around for a while? At least until we find out if Mokuba's okay?" 

"Yeah, of course." 

Serenity sat beside Joey. 

They waited and waited more, but when the doctor came back, they were told that Mokuba would make it. Mokuba would be fine. 

Kaiba was already mentally making plans for Mokuba to always be picked up from school, no more crossing the street for his little brother. All exercise would occur in a gym where it was safe. A private gym. In their house. Yes. He was already mentally constructing a plan to have this arranged (and built if necessary). 

The next phrase Kaiba was able to say was "I'm suing that truck driver so hard all his money will be bled dry from him." 

Joey and Serenity laughed nervously. That sounded terrifying.


End file.
